The Story Behind the Book

See the News
page for some recent U-Tube videos of the author talking about
native traditional food plants.

This book was created to fill a gap in the educational materials
available for those who want to learn more about the incredibly rich
culture of the People of Cascadia.

It is offered with the greatest humility, and with an awareness
that this is a very important and sensitive subject, especially to
the native people in our communities today.

Here is the story of how this book came to be.

The Author

Finding Osha in the Cascades

Heidi Bohan has 18 years experience working as a
freelance educator and adjunct faculty for local schools and
organizations in the subjects of native plants, horticulture,
woodworking, ethnobotany and traditional ecological knowledge of the
Pacific Northwest, specializing in creating hands-on life-skills
programs which reinforce academic learning requirements, adding
meaning and purpose.

To learn more about Heidi̓'̓s workshops, public events, education programs and
other information visit
www.heidibohan.com .

Ralph Bennett at work

The focus on Pacific Northwest Native American culture came about quite by
accident, through her longtime friendship and marriage to Haida carver and
storyteller, Ralph Bennett- Goo la' Slacoon beginning in 1993.
During this time, over a four year period, the author and her husband lived as artist-in-residents
at Slough House Park in Redmond, Washington, using a 6-Beam Haida
longhouse as a studio, and developing programs for youth and adults
throughout the region who came to visit by the thousands. This was the basis
for their educational work that continues to this day.

Haida House Studio at Slough House Park

Heidi's past experiences living off-the-land, in hand-built houses,
in remote areas during the 60's & 70's, along with a lifetime of horticultural
knowledge, and a fifteen-year career as a fine woodworker and
architectural designer, all combined for a rapid acquisition of
cultural skills and knowledge through research and gifting of
knowledge from family and friends, which she shared back when
appropriate, through classes in basketry, carving, weaving, edible
and medicinal plants and more.

'Summer Kitchen' used by author for 3 years
in a remote area in the Coast Range, where everything was split by
hand, and food was cooked over an open fire or pit oven.

This has been reinforced by working with local tribes, participation
in Snoqualmie Canoe Family, and work as an instructor/mentor for
Northwest Indian College.

When the time came that it was clear someone
needed to write this book, Heidi received partial funding from a
King County 4Culture Special Projects grant. Heidi met with
tribal elders to show them preliminary drawings and outlines and
received 'permission' to move forward on this book.

Over a nine year period, beginning in 2001, Heidi has drawn and
redrawn literally hundreds of drawings, researching and documenting
source information whenever it might be debatable and recording this
on the original
artwork; and printed numerous full class sets to test in the schools
and for review by tribal members and cultural experts. This led to
many more revisions and refinements. When she began working directly
for tribes in 2006, Heidi delayed publication of the book, in order
to be certain this book was an appropriate and accurate reflection
of the culture.

The title of the book 'People of Cascadia' was decided many
years into the process as a way to be inclusive of tribes throughout
the region rather than just the Pacific Northwest Coast. This allows
for the possibility of future additions in a separate volume
representing cultural groups as far north as the Haida and Tlingit,
and as far south as the many tribes of Northern California and
Oregon.

Peggy Deam, noted Suquamish elder and cultural educator at the book
launch.

The book, People of Cascadia- Pacific Northwest Native American
History, was finally 'launched' in September of 2009, hosted by
the UW Botanic Garden, with many attending who helped make this
work possible, including the native people who originally
gave permission for this work, and for whom it is mostly humbly
offered.